These days it is zombie this and zombie that. But once upon a time, vampires were a far bigger deal and horror fans would pack movie theaters and buy the books like crazy. And I do not mean those sparkly little pansy vampires, either. They should never have existed! Anyway, in Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter #1 we get a glimpse of those fiends of yesteryear.

Dark Ages #1 is part medieval historical fiction, part Lovecraftian terror, and part sci-fi monsters from space. The story introduces us to a band of knights eager for the 100 Years War to start in Medieval Europe. While they wait, they travel the countryside looking for a good fight. The group is diverse; some pray for battles, others assume that prayer will do no good, as a godless world will provide many opportunities to fight. They each have their special talents, and some are more battle hardened than others.

One night, while sitting around the fire, they notice strange stars appear in the sky. The stars turn out to be meteorites that contain strange, and deadly, alien creatures. The aliens decimate the group, severely injuring the leader, and the group flees to a monastery. The monks bring in the group, but something doesn’t sit right with the captain’s right-hand-man and now de facto leader. We learn that one of the monks is not only aware of the alien’s visitation, but is eagerly expecting it.

Back in April, I reviewed Hawken: Genesis, Archaia’s prequel tie-in to the hit, free online multi-player game, Hawken. Having never played an online multi-player game, I enjoyed the graphic novel so much that I even considered pursuing the world it’s set in some more within its main form of media. Well, Boom has just released issue one of the their sequel series, Hawken: Melee, and I obviously jumped at the chance to check out the newest venture into the gritty, war-torn world of Hawken. Does it live up to its predecessor? Find out below.

In Hawken: Melee #1, I was submerged into battle with a Mech (giant robot controlled by a human) pilot who was caught in the middle of a fast-paced attack from multiple opponents. “20 Seconds,” the first title in the five stand-alone issues series, literally takes place within the span of twenty seconds, though it feels much longer.

There’s a good chance I might get some flak for this, but here goes nothing: I’ve never seen the original Battlestar Galactica television series. Ronald D. Moore’s 2004 series happens to be among my favorite shows of all time, but I’ve never really been interested its predecessor. With that being said, I decided to give the new Battlestar Galactica comic book series from Dynamite a chance as an introduction of sorts to the show that started it all. Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and illustrated by Cezar Razek, Battlestar Galactica is now on its third issue and there are some frakkin’ crazy inter-dimensional happenings going on.

Starbuck and Apollo are still stuck in an alternate timeline where those who should be dead are alive and vice versa. Captured by none other than Boomer, Apollo struggles to convince the downtrodden resistance of this dimension — including his dead wife, Serina and his father, Adama — that he is, in fact, Apollo from another history.

Battlestar Galactica #1 proves the theory that if you want the best, you get the best. In this case, if you have a tremendously popular science fiction franchise with a huge cast, you call DnA to write your book.

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have proved time and time again that they know to write an entertaining science fiction story. Add to that the fact that they’re great at working on team books or books with pretty big casts and you have the perfect match here on this book. Abnett and Lanning take everything that was right, fun, awesome, and slick about the original Battlestar Galactica series and kick it up a notch in this debut issue. Sure, we get some introductions that we don’t really need, but it’s a first issue, so, statistics would dictate that it’s someone’s first exposure to these characters and in that sense, it’s great first issue. It’s also a great first issue for fans of the property, we get a great start to what looks to be a fantastic story starring the characters that we all know and love.

Each and every week “Heel Heat” MK2Fac3 and “No Show” Henchman21 read a lot of comics. Seriously you guys, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. I mean, it is possible… theoretically. They look forward to some more than others, I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of their pull lists, grab some comics, and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of March 28, 2012. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

My Henchman is on sabbatical this week, so I’ve decided to go solo. If H21 were here, though, I’m sure he’d ramble on about a variety of comics, but he’s not. So, get over it! But enough of all that! I wanted to address to important items that are on my radar this week. Firstly, it’s the week after my birthday and none of you got me anything! I’m so incredibly disappointed in each and every one of you. I spend my time giving you something entertaining to read and this is how you repay me!? In the words of the legendary The Iron Sheik, “::expletive deleted::!” Goodness gracious alive, folks! Anyway, on to the next item on the docket, it’s Wrestlemania week! Everyone celebrate! YAY! CM Punk is going to beat Chris Jericho and that’s a fact, Jack! Oh yeah, this feature is about comics…. Here’s this week’s The GoD List!

Marvel has announced that Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning’s Heroes For Hire #1 will be reprinted in full and at no additional cost within Avengers #10, on sale February 23, 2011. This series features an eclectic mix of heroes including Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, and Iron Fist. If you aren’t an Avengers fan, a reprinting of the first issue will hit store shelves a week earlier with a variant cover.

“We want to give our fans the most Marvel value for their comic buying dollar in 2011,” said Senior Vice President of Sales, David Gabriel. “Adding the first issue of Heroes for Hire to one of our top titles, for free, is the best opportunity for fans and retailers to spread the word about a book that we just can’t seem to keep in stores for people to try.”

If you are an Avengers fan, this is a great way to check out Heroes for Hire or if you’ve been interested in both books but haven’t given them a try, then this is a buy one get one free sort of situation. Otherwise, this is just another second printing of one of Marvel’s books…

First things first, if you’re a computer gamer waiting for the Warhammer Fantasy MMO, you need to go out and find a copy of this book right now, because each copy comes with the chance to get into the Beta for Age of Reckoning, but if you’ve been looking forward to it, you probably have a couple copies already. And if you’re not into the whole gaming thing, you should still pick this issue up, as a good horror tale, in the vein of a good Conan story.

BOOM! Studios has done a good job with the Warhammer license so far, both on the 40k side, and the Fantasy side, which is where we find ourselves for this series. The series follows one of the Witch Hunters of the Empire (this will make sense to fans of the Warhammer universe) as he tracks a heretic across a harsh landscape. He eventually tracks him to a forsaken village that carries a horrible secret. Inside the village, the story takes a turn towards the horrific, ending with the Witch Hunter moving on to track down the source of the horror.